Carol versus Vicki - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TALLguyinKY · 06-01-2002, 01:50 AM

This has been given a little attention before, so I thought I'd type up exactly what Vicki wrote in her autobiography for y'all to see just what she and Carol went through during "Mama", and which explains why Carol never appeared in the syndicated version.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"A funny thing happened the day I signed with Lorimar. Carol called and said, 'I think I'd like to put together maybe a little syndicated show with the family characters. I'll do Eunice, you do Mama. Doesn't that sound like fun?'
I said, 'It does, but I just signed with Lorimar to do Mama's Family for Joe.'
It became a very abrubt conversation, and Carol hung up. I then went to Al and asked him what he made of the whole thing. He agreed it was really weird. I wondered if I was about to get caught in the middle of yet another struggle between the two of them."

~~~

"During her divorce, Carol and I went through a 'cool' period. She 'divorced' everyone and remained distant for a lot of years. She called the house a few years ago. I was standing at the sink peeling carrots, fifteen feet from the phone, but Garrett got to it first and I only heard his half of the following conversation: 'Hello? Oh hi. Yeah, sure, he's in the other room, on the other line. You want me to tell him you're calling? My mom's here, you want to talk to her? No? Okay. Goodbye.'
When he hung up I asked him who it was.
'Carol Burnett.'
I was shocked. 'What did she say?'
'She didn't want to talk to you. She only wanted to talk to Dad.'
Al called her back later that night, made a point of telling her how much we missed and loved her, and she told him, 'I'll be back. It's just going to take a while longer. Give me another year or so.' She went through an incredible amount of pain and adjustment trying to redefine herself after the divorce, and when she finally put it all together, she emerged better and happier for all that had gone down. She was on the Vicki! show a lot and remains to this day totally supportive of my career.'

~~~

(about Joe passing in 1991) 'The way I found out he died was by reading it in the newspapers, which said the services were private. I didn't attend the funeral because I interpreted private services to mean we weren't invited.
There's always been an ongoing connection between Burnett people, and yet nobody ever called or said anything to Al and me about going. Later on, we heard through the grapevine that Carol was upset with us for missing the funeral. As much as he had hurt her, she was upset when he passed away.
So were we. We should have been there to pay our last respects to a man who figured so prominently in our lives. When we did find out, we called Carol but couldn't get through to her, so we left an apology with her assistant.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But, as we know, Carol and Vicki have been close ever since.

I just love readin' about behind-the-scenes things of your favorite shows...

MamasFamilyFan · 06-01-2002, 12:29 PM

Hi, just wanted to say that thats really some interesting info- I never knew that before!

TALLguyinKY · 06-01-2002, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MamasFamilyFan
Hi, thats really some interesting info, would you mind if I posted the info on my Mamas Family site? I would really appreciate it.
thanks

Hey, not at all! I'd just appreciate if you give me credit for gettin' it to ya---Byron Summers.

And if you'd like, I'll send you all the "Mama" stuff from the book.

Might take a while to type, but I'll do anything for the further interest of "Mama"!

ThomasE · 06-01-2002, 10:19 PM

I really wish she would have appeared on the show. It would have made it even better. I wonder what the deal was with Buzz and Sonya. Vint and Naomi were talking about what the name of their first child would be. Vint says if a boy ="Vint" if a girl "Vintina". This is weird since Buzz's real name was Vinton Harper Jr.

Pitooey · 06-01-2002, 10:22 PM

I enjoyed reading it too.... Talkyguy! I love Carol and Vicki and I am interested in anything they do.

TALLguyinKY · 06-02-2002, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JennyLee22
I enjoyed reading it too.... Talkyguy! I love Carol and Vicki and I am interested in anything they do.

Cool, JennyLee---glad ya enjoyed it!

I don't mind typin' up long passages and sharin' rare info at all, cause I know if I were a huge fan of somethin' and someone else had access to "archive" tidbits, I'd love for 'em to share, too!

TVJunkie101 · 06-02-2002, 06:15 PM

It IS always interesting to read/watch things regarding stuff behind the scenes. I always knew Vicki and Carol feuded during Mama's Family over several things, and that being the reason Carol never appeared (in the syndicated episodes)

We all know why Betty and Rue never appeared, and if ya don't, have you been under a rock? LOL. Just Kidding

But Rue, I believe, felt Fran was getting boring, or something like that and Golden Girls just happened to come around the time MF was cancelled by NBC, so she and Betty both made the jump. I always wondered why Betty was unable to appear on more episodes (she did appear in one Syndicated episode, which is one of the better Synd. eppys), because Ellen and Eunice were sorely missed, by me, in the Synd. eppys. I just felt the Synd. episodes never matched up with the NBC ones, but I like them all anyway, lol.

Anyway, I'm not 100% sure on why Rue chose not to come back at all and I'm not sure either why Betty chose to leave and not appear in anymore MF eppys.

TalkGuy, did Vicki include any info on why Rue & Betty chose to leave? I'm glad they were on the Golden Girls, tho, lol!

TALLguyinKY · 06-17-2002, 09:30 PM

Hey man---I'm so sorry, I didn't see this message until today!

I don't believe Vicki said anything regardin' Rue and Betty not comin' back, but I also have Betty's book, "Here We Go Again!", and she does mention "Mama" here and there a few times---I'll let ya know!

neo123 · 07-11-2002, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ThomasE
I really wish she would have appeared on the show. It would have made it even better.

I agree totally!! That was the only thing missing from that show, was Eunice! I think the show would have had much higher ratings too. Carol Burnett and icki LAwrence together for the full seasons, THAT would have been great!!

06-01-2002, 01:50 AM	#1
TALLguyinKY Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 18, 2002 Posts: 1,439	Carol versus Vicki This has been given a little attention before, so I thought I'd type up exactly what Vicki wrote in her autobiography for y'all to see just what she and Carol went through during "Mama", and which explains why Carol never appeared in the syndicated version. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A funny thing happened the day I signed with Lorimar. Carol called and said, 'I think I'd like to put together maybe a little syndicated show with the family characters. I'll do Eunice, you do Mama. Doesn't that sound like fun?' I said, 'It does, but I just signed with Lorimar to do Mama's Family for Joe.' It became a very abrubt conversation, and Carol hung up. I then went to Al and asked him what he made of the whole thing. He agreed it was really weird. I wondered if I was about to get caught in the middle of yet another struggle between the two of them." ~~~ "During her divorce, Carol and I went through a 'cool' period. She 'divorced' everyone and remained distant for a lot of years. She called the house a few years ago. I was standing at the sink peeling carrots, fifteen feet from the phone, but Garrett got to it first and I only heard his half of the following conversation: 'Hello? Oh hi. Yeah, sure, he's in the other room, on the other line. You want me to tell him you're calling? My mom's here, you want to talk to her? No? Okay. Goodbye.' When he hung up I asked him who it was. 'Carol Burnett.' I was shocked. 'What did she say?' 'She didn't want to talk to you. She only wanted to talk to Dad.' Al called her back later that night, made a point of telling her how much we missed and loved her, and she told him, 'I'll be back. It's just going to take a while longer. Give me another year or so.' She went through an incredible amount of pain and adjustment trying to redefine herself after the divorce, and when she finally put it all together, she emerged better and happier for all that had gone down. She was on the Vicki! show a lot and remains to this day totally supportive of my career.' ~~~ (about Joe passing in 1991) 'The way I found out he died was by reading it in the newspapers, which said the services were private. I didn't attend the funeral because I interpreted private services to mean we weren't invited. There's always been an ongoing connection between Burnett people, and yet nobody ever called or said anything to Al and me about going. Later on, we heard through the grapevine that Carol was upset with us for missing the funeral. As much as he had hurt her, she was upset when he passed away. So were we. We should have been there to pay our last respects to a man who figured so prominently in our lives. When we did find out, we called Carol but couldn't get through to her, so we left an apology with her assistant. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But, as we know, Carol and Vicki have been close ever since. I just love readin' about behind-the-scenes things of your favorite shows...
	Last edited by TALLguyinKY; 06-01-2002 at 01:51 AM.

06-01-2002, 12:29 PM	#2
MamasFamilyFan Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Apr 30, 2001 Posts: 32	Hi, just wanted to say that thats really some interesting info- I never knew that before!
	Last edited by MamasFamilyFan; 06-30-2006 at 09:58 AM.

06-01-2002, 10:22 PM	#5
Pitooey Member Forum Star Join Date: Feb 15, 2001 Location: Rocking in Transylvania. Posts: 15,042	I enjoyed reading it too.... Talkyguy! I love Carol and Vicki and I am interested in anything they do.
	__________________ Pitooey... AKA JennyLee - I love the Monkees all over again! *SAY NO TO DRUGS* Jesus saves...

06-02-2002, 06:15 PM	#7
TVJunkie101 Member...you 'member? Senior Member Join Date: May 28, 2002 Location: Florida Posts: 2,838	It IS always interesting to read/watch things regarding stuff behind the scenes. I always knew Vicki and Carol feuded during Mama's Family over several things, and that being the reason Carol never appeared (in the syndicated episodes) We all know why Betty and Rue never appeared, and if ya don't, have you been under a rock? LOL. Just Kidding But Rue, I believe, felt Fran was getting boring, or something like that and Golden Girls just happened to come around the time MF was cancelled by NBC, so she and Betty both made the jump. I always wondered why Betty was unable to appear on more episodes (she did appear in one Syndicated episode, which is one of the better Synd. eppys), because Ellen and Eunice were sorely missed, by me, in the Synd. eppys. I just felt the Synd. episodes never matched up with the NBC ones, but I like them all anyway, lol. Anyway, I'm not 100% sure on why Rue chose not to come back at all and I'm not sure either why Betty chose to leave and not appear in anymore MF eppys. TalkGuy, did Vicki include any info on why Rue & Betty chose to leave? I'm glad they were on the Golden Girls, tho, lol!
	__________________ Shawn DVD Reviews \| My TV on DVD List \| Sitcoms Online NewsBlog Last edited by TVJunkie101; 06-02-2002 at 06:22 PM.

06-01-2002, 10:19 PM	#4
ThomasE Member Moderator Forum Fanatic Join Date: Apr 04, 2000 Location: New York, New York, U.S.A. Posts: 10,857	I really wish she would have appeared on the show. It would have made it even better. I wonder what the deal was with Buzz and Sonya. Vint and Naomi were talking about what the name of their first child would be. Vint says if a boy ="Vint" if a girl "Vintina". This is weird since Buzz's real name was Vinton Harper Jr.

06-17-2002, 09:30 PM	#8
TALLguyinKY Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 18, 2002 Posts: 1,439	Hey man---I'm so sorry, I didn't see this message until today! I don't believe Vicki said anything regardin' Rue and Betty not comin' back, but I also have Betty's book, "Here We Go Again!", and she does mention "Mama" here and there a few times---I'll let ya know!